Resources for Teachers and Students on Rigoberta Menchú
Prepare: Rigoberta Menchú Tum won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1992. Her biography
and the text of her Nobel
lecture can be found on the Nobel website.
Read:
Rigoberta Menchú Tum wrote an
original essay for the Architects of Peace project.
In it, she explores peace as a way of life, both for the
individual and for society.
Explore: The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation
has been active in the process of repatriating indigenous
Guatemalans during the period of civil unrest, and in promoting
human rights in Guatemala, especially in terms of women's
rights. Unfortunately, the foundation does not maintain
a presence on the internet at present. A great deal about
the foundation's work, however, can be learned on the website
of the American
Indian Heritage Foundation.
Write: In her Architects of Peace essay, Rigoberta
Menchú Tum constructs an elaborate, poetic definition
of peace. Compose a two-to-three page close reading of her
essay, focusing on how she works with definitions, and any
metaphors she constructs to describe the peacemaking process.
Extend: Rigoberta Menchú Tum participates
in an organization called PeaceJam, an educational program
built around Nobel Peace Laureates who work specifically
with youth. She is one of five Architects of Peace currently
involved with this program. Information about their educational
activities can be found on the PeaceJam
website.
Additional Resource: The Rigoberta Menchú
Tum story is not without its controversy. There have been
accusations in publications such as the New York Times that
her memoirs contain a degree of embellishment of her otherwise
heroic personal history. You can read an account
of the controversy online.
Biography of Rigoberta
Menchú Tum